Media This One’s For You
posted by April 22 at 15:40 PM
onThis week’s books lead is a great story by Charles Mudede about the fact that most, if not all, writers write for one person. The writer that Charles uses to explore this idea? Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Robert Jamieson.
I can’t read this passage of Charles’s story without laughing out loud, which is really rare for me:
Jamieson’s reader is a reasonable man. When he reads, “I’d say that’s a wise allocation of limited police resources,” he thinks to himself: “Yes, I have to agree with you, Jamieson. This is a wise allocation of police resources.”
Does Jamieson have an ideal reader? And if so, should we be terrified of him? Some of the answers are here.
Comments
Which begs the question: Who is Mudede's ideal reader? As near as I can guess, I'd say it's The Man Who Fell to Earth.
@1 Himself.
I think Charles is writing for me.
Too bad I only read his stuff at the public library.
QUIZ TIME:
Robert Jamieson is to Ken Schram as Charles Mudede is to ???
I'm in a bad mood to start with. And reading anything that Charles writes makes my head hurt which really doesn't improve my mood.
But, just in case I wasn't getting some uber cool idea that Charles was trying to convey (and because Paul recommended it and I loooove Paul), I tortured myself by reading this article twice.
Writers write for themselves. Charles is no different. This is an ego piece and frankly would've been a lot better with more examples than just Jamieson. Instead it comes off as a condemnation of the "man in the middle" Jamieson writes for. And also a bit like an inside joke, like ooo see this award winning journalist who is really a hack.
Of course, since I am apparently neither Jamieson's or Charles' target person all of this was wasted on me.
And, really I'm only writing this post for one person, me. So suck it the rest of you.
p.s. @3 Will, honey, I really thought we had the start of a beautiful relationship but you are going to have to buy me a lot of pie to make up for the fact that you are the man Charles writes for.
There must be a typo ... actually writing the phrase "great story by Charles Mudede" must be what really made laugh out loud.
Now, if Charles did an Art History book ...
I don't get it.
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